


The Journey

by Marvel_enthusiast



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Building Random Things, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, I promise, Sparley if you squint, There's a plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2020-02-27 12:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18739054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvel_enthusiast/pseuds/Marvel_enthusiast
Summary: After Tony Stark's death, Harley isn't sure how he should feel. He feels out of place in New York among everyone the billionaire had known. Then, he receives a letter that makes everything a little better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First few chapters are a bit short, sorry <3

Harley was in the garage when he got the call.

He cursed as it rang, thinking about ignoring it. Looking back now, he's glad that he didn't. He wiped his grease-covered hands onto his jeans, a habit that he'd been trying to break for ages. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open. "Hello? Harley Keener here."

"Mr. Keener, this is Happy Hogan. I work- worked for Tony Stark, the man who broke into your garage a few years ago. The mechanic, I think you knew him as?"

"Tony? Yeah, 'course I remember him. I was 12 when I met him, not four. How is the dear old man doing anyway? I thought that he would've called after everyone came back, but he didn't, so I was gettin' a bit worried." Harley exited the shop and went inside. The house was empty, as usual. His mom was presumably at work, and his sister at a friend's house.

"Actually, I was calling to tell you that Tony is," The man on the phone's voice wavered, close to breaking, "Tony is dead, kid. He gave up his life to save everyone. I'm sorry."

"What?" Harley sat down, "That's bullshit. Tony can't be dead. He's Iron Man, for fuck's sake. Superheroes don't just die."

"Tony wasn't a superhero. He was just a person like you and everyone else in this shitty world. He knew he was going to die one day. At least it was on his terms and for something good. I don't know what your bond with him was like, but I'm telling you that he'd want you to move on. He'd want us all to move on." The man sighed, sounding utterly exhausted. "The funeral's in three days. It would mean a lot to him and his family if you came, okay?"

Harley faltered, running a hand through his already messy hair. The man had a point, even if it broke his heart to admit it. "How am I supposed to get to New York? I have barely enough money to buy the things necessary to live, definitely not enough for a plane ticket or to rent a suit."

"Don't worry about it, kid. Your plane ticket and suit are taken care of already. Your plane departs tomorrow at noon. I'll pick you up from the airport when you arrive."

"Alright. Thank you. Really."

"Anything for a friend of Tony's. We all look forward to seeing you soon," Happy answered before hanging up.

Harley sighed and kicked off his shoes, heading to his room to start packing. "I swear if this is some stupid joke..."

He collapsed onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He wasn't sure how he should feel. He'd never met any of Tony's family, so why did they want him at the funeral? Had he really meant that much to the billionaire?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in like May but I'm not really happy with it, so here we go again.


	2. Worries

New York was exactly how Harley thought it would be.

     At least he told himself that. New York was loud and crazy- nothing like he was used to from Rose Hill.  

     The car ride to Tony's farmhouse was silent, so Harley looked out the window. "How did Tony... die?" He asked softly. He still didn't believe that the man was gone.

     Mr. Hogan sighed. "It'd probably be best for the others to tell you."

     "The others?"

     "The remaining Avengers or Pepper or Rhodey."

     "Okay. How long until we're there?" Harley was getting nervous. He was sure that he wouldn't know any of these people and that he'd be all alone.

     "A few more minutes, " Happy replied. 

     When they arrived, Harley certainly wasn't expecting the place to be so quiet. At that moment, he knew that this was real and that Tony Stark was in fact, dead.

     He let out a shaky breath, telling himself that he wouldn't cry. "Where is everyone else?" He asked Happy, his voice sounding smaller than usual. 

     "Around here somewhere. They might be inside talking to Pepper." Happy opened the trunk, taking out Harley's bag. "I'll show you your room."

     "My room?" Harley echoed, taking his bag from Happy, not used to having someone carry his things for him.

      "Yeah. Tony has a special guest room designed just for you." Happy stated it like it was nothing, but the thought of someone actually caring about him made Harley burst into tears. Happy sighed and patted Harley on the back awkwardly. "I know, kid. Tony cared about you a lot. He just didn't realize it when he met you."

     "Really?" Harley asked, wiping his eyes with his sleeve a bit too roughly.

     "Really. He was just too afraid of admitting it. He met another kid a few years ago, and I think that's when he realized that he could care and that he wasn't going to end up like his father. When Morgan was born he thought he was going to be an awful dad, but he did a great job. I just wish that... Let's go inside."

     "Who's Morgan? And can I meet this other kid?"

     "Morgan is Tony's daughter. She's five and very similar to him. You can meet Peter whenever your rooms are right next to each other, " Happy opened the door for Harley and the boy walked inside hesitantly.

     "Harley's here," Happy announced. The A.I.s hadn't been working for the last few days. Peter said it's because they miss their dad, and honestly, Happy could believe it.

     "Harley?" A pretty woman with strawberry blonde hair appeared, holding a little girl who must've been Morgan. "I'm Pepper, Tony's wife. I don't know if he ever mentioned me."

     Harley waved awkwardly before stuffing his hands in his pocket. "He did vaguely, I think. I mostly just freaked him out whenever we talked. It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry about Tony."

     Pepper waved a dismissive hand and sat down Morgan. "He wouldn't have wanted us to feel sorry for him, you not that as well as anyone else, I'm sure. It hurt, losing him, but I know that he would want all of us to stay strong for him." She took a deep breath, wiping her eyes quickly. "Morgan, this is your kinda big brother Harley. He's Daddy's friend from a really long time ago.

     Morgan waved at Harley, taking on his messy appearance. He wore ripped jeans that were stained with grease, the kind ripped from being worn too often, not the stylish kind, brown work boots, and an old Jurassic Park shirt.

     "You look like my Daddy after he gets done working in the garage. He lets me help him some, but I mostly just make a mess, " The little girl stated, coming closer to Harley.

     "Yeah? When I first met your Dad, I told him we were connected. Maybe that's why we're so similar," Harley suggested, crouching down so he could be eye to eye with Morgan.

     "Are you okay, mister? You're crying." Morgan frowned and gave Harley a hug. That's what her mommy and daddy did to her whenever she cried, so she figured that maybe she should try it. She didn't think that it worked, however, because Harley started crying harder and squeezed Morgan tightly.

     "I'm okay, " Harley decided after a moment. "Thank you." He stood up and ruffled Morgan's hair. "I have to go unpack now, I'll be back to talk in a little bit."

     "Okay! Bye Harley!" 

     Happy put a hand on Harley's shoulder and led him to his room. 

     "You're right, she is like Tony. Looks like him, and talks like him," Harley concluded quietly as they walked upstairs.

     "She likes to put on the helmets of whatever suits of Tony's that she finds laying around. The first time he saw her in one, I think that he freaked out a bit. He didn't want her to get hurt." Happy informed Harley as they approached the guest room. "Here you go. If you need anything, Peter is probably next door. He hasn't come out for a while though. It's worrying everyone, his Aunt especially."

     "Okay. Thanks." Harley hesitated, his hand on the doorknob. "Peter and Tony were close then?" Happy nodded. "Maybe I can try talking to him. We're probably around the same age, right?"

     "I don't know, how old are you?"

     "I think I'm technically like 22 but haven't aged in five years so like 16. The whole "another bites the dust thing" really confuses me," Harley shrugged.

     "You're the same age then, I think."

     "Okay. I'll try to talk to him in a bit. Maybe we have some common Stark experiences we can talk about or something?" Harley suggested.

     "Maybe, kid, just maybe."


	3. Tragedies

As soon as Happy left, Harley closed the door to "his" room and looked around in awe. The room had to be half the size of his house back in Rose Hill. There was a neatly made loft bed with Star Wars sheets and a desk and bookshelves down below.

It felt like too much. Tony barely knew him, but yet gave him all of this? Harley was sure that this was the most anyone had ever done for him. Not that he was complaining.

As he took a seat at the desk, he frowned. Tony's blueprints for some of his more recent suits were stacked neatly upon the desktop, along with a notebook. He opened it but found that it was empty. The fringe from a ripped out page was left though.

He shrugged it off, deciding to ask Pepper about all of this later. He got back up and started to unpack, putting his clothes either in the dark cherry colored dresser or in the closet. There were other clothes in the closet, a few of the shirts looked like Tony's but he didn't think about it much. 

Harley closed the closet doors and sat down on an orange couch in the corner of the room. He closed his eyes, but only for a short moment because he heard what sounded like crying coming from the room next to his. 

He got up quietly and exited his room, knocking on the door down the hall from his own. "Uh, Peter?"

There was a thud before he got an answer. "One second!" Came the reply and a few moments later, the door opened, revealing a kid with brown hair styled similarly to Harley's. "Can I help you?" The boy leaned awkwardly against the door frame, trying to look like he was fine, but the redness around his eyes showed otherwise.

"How about this, can I help you?" Harley countered, crossing his arms and looking at the shorter teen.

"Listen, random stranger, I'm fine, okay?"

"My name is Harley, not "random stranger," and you're obviously not fine. I can hear you crying from my room, " He pushed inside past Peter and looked around at the room. It was similar to his own but messier. 

"Well, leave me alone, Harley. I don't want to talk to anyone right now, okay?!" Peter grabbed him by the arm and shoved him back out into the hall before slamming the door shut in his face and starting to cry again.

~~~

The next morning was the funeral. 

Harley was dressed in one of Tony's old suits, so that made everything feel even sadder.

He stood alone by the porch with his hands on his pockets as Pepper put the wreath with Tony's arc reactor into the lake and watched it slowly float away.

He felt numb for everything else. Everyone had someone to comfort them, but here he stood, alone and crying silently. 

Soon enough, the service was over and everyone was inside talking quietly. 

Under other circumstances, Harley would have been ecstatic to be in a room full of superheroes, but now he felt nothing.

He was jerked out of his depressing thoughts as Morgan climbed into his lap.

Perfect timing, kiddo, He thought, offering the little girl a weak and unconvincing smile. "Hey, Morgan."

"Hi, Harley! Why are you still crying?" Morgan sat down beside him and snuggled into his side, resting her head on the 16-year-old's chest. 

"I miss your dad, that's all," Harley sighed, wrapping an arm around her. 

"I miss him too. He was supposed to read me a bedtime story last night and last, last night. Maybe tonight he'll come back and read me one.." Morgan frowned, messing with her dress.

That made Harley cry harder, but he tried not to let it show for Morgan's sake. "If he doesn't, I'll read you one, if that's okay?"

"Alright. Do you want to come to look at our garage? That's where Daddy keeps all of his toys." She got up, taking Harley's hand and tugging it excitedly. 

"Maybe we should ask your mom first..?" Harley suggested, getting up and leading Morgan over to Pepper, who was talking to a guy that Harley thought was Colonel Rhodes. 

"Mommy! Uncle Rhodey! Can Harley and I go out to the garage to look through Daddy's toys and see if he fell asleep out there again? Please?"

Harley stiffened, realizing that he probably should have gone over what Morgan should have asked her mom. The last thing he wanted to do was make Pepper upset.

The widow only smiled sadly, shaking her head. "How about you get changed first? When you find Daddy, I don't think he'll want you guys to have your nice clothes all yucky!"

Rhodey snorted, "You say that as if it isn't something Tony would have done."

"Shush, she doesn't need to get any ideas." Pepper laughed softly and elbowed the Colonel.  
~~~  
After they both had changed, they went out into the garage, Morgan leading the way.  

"Did you help your dad out here that often?" Harley asked, looking around in awe at all of the tools and spare parts. He wished that he had access to all of this back in Rose Hill, but the town didn't anything this great.

"Sometimes. Usually, he just gives me little things to work on while he works on the big stuff." She picked up Pepper's Rescue armor helmet and put it on. "I'm gonna take over as Rescue when I get bigger. You can be Ironman! We'll be the best team ever." She found one of Tony's older suits and handed the helmet to Harley. "Let's go show Mommy!"

The five-year-old grabbed Harley's hand and raced back towards the house. "Mommy, mommy!" She screeched excitedly as she opened the door quite loudly. "Look at me and Harley!"

Harley stood behind Morgan, aware of all the eyes on him. These were superheroes, and here he was, playing dress up with one of the dead Avenger's suits. He looked down as Pepper approached. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell her no and make her sad," He mumbled, messing with his fingers.

Pepper smiled, putting her hand on Harley's shoulder. "It suits you. You should keep it. And you, missy, are too little to even think about wearing that." She picked up her daughter and rested her on her hip.

"Are you sure?" Harley asked hesitantly. 

"Absolutely. Tony has way more. I'm sure that he would want you to have one."

"Okay," Harley took off the helmet, making his hair a mess in the process. "Thanks a lot, Pepper. You're awesome."

"So I've been told."


	4. Remedies

The next morning, Harley woke up to the sound of crying.

He sighed, climbing down his bed ladder and getting his slippers on. "I better not have woke up for nothing, " He mumbled, rubbing his eyes and heading down the hall to Peter's room.

He knocked on the door quietly, not wanting to wake the other residents of the house. When Peter didn't open it, he just walked in.

At first, the brunette didn't notice him, but then, "Harley? Why are you in here?" Peter asked with a frown.

"You were crying and it woke me up," Harley shrugged, sitting down beside Peter on his bed. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing. When I got here, that Happy guy said you haven't come out of your room for a while. Plus, I hear you crying whenever I'm in my room."

"You wouldn't understand. You probably didn't even know him, " Peter mumbled.

"Actually, I'm here because of Tony," Harley replied, looking over at Peter. "I met him in 2013. He came to my hometown when the whole Mandarin thing was happening.

"Really? What was he like back then?" The brunette questioned, leaning closer to the blond, his sniffling starting to stop.

"He was... How about I describe him by what he wasn't? Lay down, kid, it's time for a bedtime story."

"One, we're like the same age. Two, I'm not Morgan, " Peter muttered but listened anyway.

"Shush. Close your eyes and picture a crappy little town in winter."

"I'm picturing it."

"Did I say you could talk, child?"

"Sorry."

"Imagine a cute little blonde twelve-year-old boy. His sister is at the neighbor's and his mother is at work, so he's home alone. Suddenly, he hears someone break into his garage. He freaks out and grabs his potato gun, and then goes out to investigate. When he gets out there, he finds the one and only Tony Stark."

"Why did you get to meet him in such an interesting way? This is not fair." Peter pouted, sitting up.

Harley pushed him back down lightly. "Because I'm awesome. There's too much to tell you because I'm lazy and tired so basically, he broke into my garage, I babysat his Ironman suit, some fiery dude tried to kill me but I got away because of something Tony gave me. He left to fight the Mandarin guy. I wanted to go with him and tried pulling the helpless child card. It didn't work, he drove off."

"What about your parents? Wouldn't they have cared if you just left?" Peter asked, propping himself up on his elbow.

"My dad left. He went to the gas station to get scratch offs and hasn't come back since. My mom would be more than happy if I left. She has a hard enough time balancing work and taking care of my sister and me."

"Oh."

Harley nodded. "Tony and I were connected. At least that's what twelve-year-old Harley thought because we were kinda similar. I can't blame him for leaving me, honestly. He wasn't ready for the responsibility of taking care of someone, I think. Especially a kid that kept triggering him by asking about New York."

"Maybe you can stay here with Pepper and Morgan?" Peter suggested, patting Harley's leg, trying to comfort him. "That was weird, sorry."

"It's fine. How did you meet Tony?" Harley asked, laying down beside Peter and looked up at the ceiling.

"2016. He kinda just showed up at my apartment and we went to Germany to fight the other Avengers... crap."

"The other Avengers?" Harley repeated with a smirk on his face and an eyebrow raised. "You're an Avenger?"

"What? No! I'm too young to be an Avenger! That's crazy!" Peter stammered his face reddening.

"Too young? That's the only reason you could think of?" Harley thought back to the reports he'd read about the Avengers in Germany. Peter had to either be Ant-Man or Spiderman. Ant-man was on Cap's side though so that left him with Spiderman.

"And I don't have any powers!" Peter added hopelessly.

"Whatever, Spidey."

"Fuck. I mean shit. I mean crap. Ugh. Stupid detective boy from the south."

"It's not that hard to figure out?" Harley defended. "I'm not stupid. Ask T-" He sighed, putting his face in his hands. "Fuck. I miss him. He was the only one who actually cared about me, I think.

Peter hugged Harley awkwardly from the side. "We all do, so it's alright. Plus, you have people who care about you lots now- Morgan, Pepper, me- who won't let you feel alone and unwanted."


	5. Melodies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been so long!

Later, around 8:00, Harley found himself out in the garage. He went out as soon as Peter had fallen back asleep, knowing that he wouldn't be able to do the same. So instead, he worked.  
  
He worked on cleaning up, and he built little gadgets, before tearing them apart because they weren't good enough.  
  
Suddenly, he dropped the screwdriver that he'd been holding and sunk to the ground, his face in his hands.  
  
Flashes of 2013 came to mind whenever Harley closed his eyes. Killian holding him tightly, his skin searing under the man's touch. Tony leaving him with no one who cared.  
  
Harley knew he shouldn't be angry at Tony. It was unreasonable, but yet here he was.  
  
Blame and anger wouldn't bring back Tony. He knew that, but he wished it would.  
  
The house was empty now, most everyone had left the afternoon after the funeral. Only Colonel Rhodes and Doctor Banner remained. Most of the funeral attendees had promised to come and visit soon, although Harley wasn't sure if that was really true.  
  
It felt strange for the house to be so empty. In the five days that Harley had been there, it had been filled with chatter, crying, and laughter.  
  
The change was sudden, too sudden for him. The silence made him think back to 2013 and Tony once again. He couldn't believe how much Tony had changed since then. Hell, he had a daughter now and had been willing to be a father figure to anyone who needed one.   
  
Harley almost wished that he had met this Tony instead of the 2013 Tony. He knew that he should be grateful for meeting the man in the first place, but it still hurt to know that when he needed a father figure, he was rejected. However, years later, Tony became a father figure to anyone that needed it. It wasn't fair.  
  
He took a deep breath, trying to think of anything but Tony and father figures. Instead, he decided to get a snack and then go back upstairs to his room.  
  
-  
  
To his surprise, Pepper and Morgan were already awake and in the kitchen eating breakfast when he went back inside.  
  
"Good morning, Harley, " Pepper greeted the teen, looking up from helping Morgan cut up her food. "Would you like some pancakes?"  
  
"They have chocolate chips in them! I added them when Mommy wasn't looking, " Morgan chirped, lifting up her plate and shoving it in Harley's direction. "See?"  
  
He nodded, leveling Morgan's plate out, as the pancakes started to slide. "Careful, M."  
  
He got himself four pancakes before taking a seat next to Morgan. "What are you going to do today, M?"  
  
The young girl shrugged, her mouth full of pancake. "Play with you. Build a suit like Mommy's so I can be like her and Daddy. You can wear Daddy's suits for now, but we'll have to make a mini version for me."  
  
Pepper sighed, "Morgan, don't talk with your mouth full- it's yucky." She stood up to retrieve a cloth napkin, wetting it before sitting back down and wiping on Morgan's face. "I don't think you're big enough to have a suit of armor yet, okay? They aren't for playing."  
  
"Didn't Tony used to used them for... "playing" though?" Harley asked, winking at Morgan, trying to help her case.  
  
"Not you too, Harley!"  
  
"I'm just saying! If he messed around with them, then why can't Morgan? It's not like we'll make them dangerous," He gave Pepper his best puppy dog eyes, nudging Morgan so she'd do the same. "Please, Pep?"  
  
Pepper groaned, throwing her hands onto the air. "Fine. Only if Peter helps you though. There needs to be someone that's responsible for watching you two while you work."  
  
Morgan frowned, "Harley is the responsiblest person I know... Other than Peter, Uncle Happy, Uncle Rhodey, Mommy, and Uncle Bruce, sometimes."  
  
"Yeah," Hary agreed, slinging an arm around Morgan's tiny shoulders. "Also, no one's responsible when they're around me unless it's you, Pep. My superpower is turning people irresponsible."  
  
"Peter or no suits," Pepper warned, taking everyone's dirty dishes and placing them in the sink.  
  
"Fine," Harley grumbled, "Peter or no suits."  
  



	6. Super Secret Spies

Peter or no suits. Simple enough, right?

 

Wrong.

 

That would be the case in any other circumstance but now, Harley had an advantage to win Peter over- Morgan. 

 

No one could resist saying "no" to the five year old. She was almost exactly like Tony, who usually got what he wanted, one way or another, and was like Pepper too in the best of ways. 

 

So yeah, Harley thought that'd they would be fine.

 

"Okay, M, here's the plan. You go into Peter's room, acting like your regular adorable, child-genius self, and ask him if he'll help us make Ironman suits. If he says no, come back out to me, and we'll use force instead," Harley explained, crouching down in front of Morgan. They were by the hallway that led to Peter and Harley's rooms, so that they would be close to the target, but not too close.

 

"Won't using force just make him not want to help us still?" She questioning, crossing her arms and frowning at Harley.

 

"Good point. We'll have to use bribery instead. What does Peter like? It has to be cheap stuff though, I have college to pay for."

 

"I'm not sure... I could ask him when I ask if he'll help us?" Morgan suggested.

 

Harley nodded, "Alrighty, we'll hope that it works. Now, are we ready for phase 1 of our super secret plan?"

 

"One second!" Morgan ran to her room, barely making any noise as she did, and returned in a few minutes with two pairs of sunglasses, 2 walkie talkies, a fake mustache, and a magnifying glass. "Disguises."

 

Harley laughed, "What if Peter thinks a stranger is asking him to help build a suit?"

 

"Oh yeah... Well, we can just use them while we're waiting." She shrugged, putting on her sunglasses and taking a walkie talkie for herself.

 

"Good idea," The teen replied, taking his own items. "Are those your dad's sunglasses?" He questioned, as he put the fake mustache on.

 

Morgan grinned, "Maybe, maybe not."

 

Harley just sighed, "You're silly, y'know that?"

 

"Says the guy wearing a mustache. Now phase one, ready for action." With that Morgan disappeared down the hall before Harley could even think of a response.

* * *

 

Three quiet knocks sounded on Peter's door. "Petey? Are you in there?" Morgan asked. Three more knocks.

 

"Yeah, one second, Mor." 

 

The door opened, revealing an exhausted looking Peter. "What are you doing?" He inquired, taking in her "disguise."

 

"Um, playing spies with Harley? He's a bad guy and I need to hide from him."

 

"Okay. C'mon." Peter picked her up and carried her over to his desk, sitting her down in top of it before taking a seat in the wheely chair. "What are you guys actually doing?"

 

Morgan sighed, upset that her cover had been blown so easily. "Me and Harley wanna build suits like Mommy's and Daddy's, but Mommy says we can't unless you help us because she doesn't trust us." She put on her best innocent puppy look, "Pretty please? Harley said that he'd buy you  _anything you wanted_ if you help us."

 

"Anything?" He asked, unconvinced.

 

"Anything." She agreed.

 

"Fine."

 

"Yay! Thank you, Petey!" Morgan got down from the desk and hugged her kind of brother tightly before taking out her walkie talkie. "Dumb mechanic, you there? Peter said he'd do it, no need for phase 2. Over."

 

"He actually agreed? How? Over," Harley replied, ignoring the insult.

 

"Magic. Now meet us in the garage. Over." She turned off her walkie talkie and took Peter's hand. "Let's go! We have suits to build!"

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if there's any mistakes! <3


End file.
